I came to a realization this past week...I'm a junk drawer junkie! I've lived in my current house for just under 15 months now, and I have 7, count 'em, SEVEN JUNK DRAWERS! That even hurt to say it. I tend to be a fairly clutter free person, and I realized that was only because I shove every loose object into either a drawer, closet, or cabinet. That only works until said receptacle starts to overflow and the contents pop out like a jack-in-the-box every time you open it.
That's where this started. After I watched the Minimalist documentary (seriously, have you watched it yet?!?) where someone had said that it wasn't that you needed more storage space, you just need less stuff to store, I came to the conclusion that I had a problem, and it was growing.
The funny thing is, after I started cleaning out my junk drawers, I noticed that it was exactly that, JUNK. Everything was "just in case" and random one-off type stuff that I hadn't touched in a long time, and often didn't even know what it was or why I kept it. My new rule is another thing I picked up from the minimalists which is the 20/20 rule. If I can replace it for $20 or less, and in 20 minutes or less, I don't need to hang on to it.
Here was the transformation of just the 3 drawers in my night stand...
Notice how I almost emptied out an entire drawer? I even made room for my pistol case that was previously under the bed. (the other random gun is just a BB gun, so don't crucify me) I did actually empty out one drawer in the kitchen, and organized the others.
It's a work in progress, and over time will thin out even more. With the stuff I have, sometimes I have to take baby steps or I start to hyperventilate. At one time, I thought I was sentimental with things when in reality, I was just being a pack rat. I hadn't looked at, thought about, or accessed most things in months, even years, and that's not sentiment, that's hoarding.
Don't be a slave to "just in case". Don't let the junk drawer (or cabinet, closet, etc.) develop it's own gravitational pull. Use the 20/20 method, or just think about the last time you used, or even thought about the items. You'll be amazed at how much easier it is to purge!
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